Home is where your family is.
So, in Silver Moon City, my home is where Harry is.
Xing Chuan brought me before Harry"s room and knocked on the door. Harry laughed playfully and said, “Don"t you always come in from the balcony?” When he opened the door, he was stunned.
He seemed to have been taking a shower, and had yet to blow dry himself or put on his top. Using one hand to towel his hair dry and the other to open the door, he stood before us in white sleeping pants, his upper body naked.
“What happened to you?! Why do you look so pale?!” Anxiously he held my face. His hand was still warm from his hot shower, with a hint of the fragrance of shower gel. It instantly felt like I had returned home, like I"d been placed in a nest of warm feathers.
“You keep him company.” Xing Chuan turned and walked away.
Harry stared after him for a while, before he turned back to me worriedly again. He held my face and asked, “What happened? Did you go for another mission…”
I pounced at him. I couldn"t stay strong anymore. Stumbling from the impact, both of us fell back into the room. The door closed behind us automatically and he stopped talking.
I hugged him tightly. I hugged his naked and slender waist. I hugged his warm body. I leaned in so that my heart could feel his warm body. I leaned on his warm chest, which was still steaming from the shower. In an instant, his heartbeat had lost its usual rhythm and beat wildly inside his chest.
He stood there blankly, his heartbeat unable to return to normal. His drenched copper curls rested in the hollow of his shoulder, warming the air. Water droplets carrying the fragrance of shampoo rolled down his chest, wetting my face as I rested on his chest. The water droplets flowed down with my tears, across the teardrop tattoo under his nipple.
“What… happened?” He finally came back to reality. Gently he hugged my body and stroked the back of my head.
“I killed the Ghost Eclipsers,” I said against his chest with the my last bit of strength. Staring blankly at his fair chest, I continued, “When they died, they bled just like us… I"d thought they were monsters but they were actually humans…”
“Let"s not talk about it anymore…” He abruptly hugged me tighter, holding the back of my head closer to his chest. “Let"s go to bed. We won"t remember this tomorrow.” Harry let go of me and stroked my face. “Go and take a shower. You"ll feel much better.”
I nodded and walked into the bathroom, still dazed. Harry quickly caught up with me and pa.s.sed something to me. I looked at it and realized that he"d pa.s.sed me my clothes.
Again I walked in absent-mindedly. Then, I heard Harry sigh. “You"re not even closing the door..…”
His voice sounded so far away. I could barely hear him. My brain was still blank as though something had emptied my brain. Without thinking, I began to take off my clothes and I heard the door closing hastily behind me.
Turning on the shower, I let the warm water flow down over my head and my body. Now I seemed to understand Harry"s reaction back then, his trembling. But he was stronger than I was, because he"d pulled himself together quicker than I had.
I looked down at my hands. The water suddenly turned red. It was all blood! Blood!
Afraid, I scrubbed my hands really hard. Yet there was more and more blood. I finally cried. Under the running water, I finally cried. Lifting my head in agony, I let the water run down my throat. I seemed to taste blood, a very strong tang of blood.
“Retch.” I threw up. I finally threw up. I threw up all the darkness weighing down on my chest, and I cried out loud. I couldn"t let the darkness grow inside me. I couldn"t let the black buds grow into dark poisonous vines that would strangle my heart and pull me into darkness.
I didn"t know how long I cried and threw up for. Slowly, I stood up and started to wash the blood off my body with the fragrant shower gel. But then I realized that I could still smell the blood no matter how hard I scrubbed. Only now did I discover that I had yet to take off all my clothes. Quickly I shed the drenched clothes and threw them on the floor. I continued to scrub myself until my body was all red, until I"d lost all my energy…
Turning off the shower, I gradually blew dry myself with hot air. Then, I went to put on my clothes. I felt weak all over. I put on my pajamas and opened the door. When I walked to the bed, Harry sat up immediately. He"d already put on his pajamas. Looking at me worriedly, he held my arms and didn"t speak for very long.
Head lowered, chest heaving up and down, he seemed to be restless as he didn"t know what to say. Finally, he forced a smile on his face and said, “Let"s get some sleep. Rest well.” With a wave of his hands, the lights went off. Faint moonlight streamed in from outside. Releasing my arm, he wanted to leave.
Instantly I threw myself at him again. As he stumbled backward, both of us fell onto the soft bed. The hovering bed lengthened to accommodate our bodies, becoming big enough to fit our legs as well.
Harry stiffened as I laid on his chest and closed my eyes.
*Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.* His heartbeat was running wild again. However, that strong and fast heartbeat made me feel secure. I felt a sense of life that could pull me out from the shadow of death.
His heartbeat continued racing, maintaining a fast pace. How is Harry"s heart rate so high?
Curling my arms tightly around his waist, I lay on his chest and draped my leg over his. It turned out that… sleeping on someone… was actually very comfortable.
*Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.*
I fell asleep… in the rhythm of his heartbeat.
And… I didn"t dream at all…
After going through a dark night, I slept soundly through the night on top of Harry. When I opened my eyes, I saw the dawn light s.h.i.+ning in through the window.
I blinked. My face was still rising and falling with the movement of Harry"s chest. His heartbeat had returned to normal by now.
Clear sunlight bathed the floor where Harry had been sleeping before, reflecting a dazzling brightness.
I felt like I"d come back to life. I felt relaxed.
Sitting up next to Harry, I looked at the suns.h.i.+ne outside. as usual. On the other side of the slowly revolving Silver Moon City, I could see the beautiful green field.
I got up and rolled off Harry"s body onto the floor. He mumbled something as he stretched his body and turned over. Seemed like he could finally sleep comfortably.
Standing by the bed, I gazed at him warmly. Thank you, Harry. You"re always by my side when I"m close to drowning myself in the darkness. You would share the burden with me. You would pull me out of the darkness with the brightness and warmth in your body.
If it hadn"t been for Harry, I reckoned that I wouldn"t have been able to pull myself back up so quickly. Although I still didn"t dare to recall what had happened the night before, at least, I wouldn"t drown myself in the darkness like I had back then.
Somehow, I couldn"t help but bend down over him. Instantly I blushed. What am I trying to do? I wanted to kiss him. My lips went numb. I wanted to thank him but I didn"t know how to thank him, because I couldn"t think of anything that would be able to fully express my grat.i.tude. So… I wanted to use… a kiss…
But, it would be so embarra.s.sing if he wakes up?!
Plus! Judging from his character, he would -!
My heart started racing and I quickly backed off. I can"t kiss him. He"d be so proud and be smug for a long time, maybe even for the rest of his life.
*Mm.8 I can"t kiss Harry. He is a nasty guy. He"ll puff up uncontrollably with pride once I start to treat him better.
Decisively I turned around and tied my hair up. When I pushed the balcony door open, the air felt the same as always. I hopped onto the balcony; riding it felt like I was flying.
You never had to worry about falling in Silver Moon City because the unique gravity in this place would help you to land slowly, before it firmly held your feet to the floor. Hence, you could hop from one end of Silver Moon City to the other without any fear of injury. You could also run on the wall or under the bridge. As long as you found a route, you could be running at different angles off the ground.
I kept running. Taking advantage of the special gravity, I hopped off from the high floors, the gravity bringing me to safely land on top of the next building. Now, I felt the lightness of flying across roofs.
Finally, I reached the gra.s.s field, landing with my face upturned to the sky. Taking deep breaths, I unb.u.t.toned my s.h.i.+rt to let air in and blow off the hot air surrounding my chest. The cool air blew through the neck and armholes of my singlet, drying up the sweat inside.
*Gurgle.* I"m hungry. I"ve to go prepare food!
I quickly sat up. Yeah! I want to prepare my food!
“I want to drink soy milk!” I shouted at the universe, screaming out loud my longing for my home. I hoped that my scream could travel through the universe and s.p.a.cetime, to reach my homeland, the earth.
Running to the gazebo by the side of the green field, I said hastily, “I want to go to the kitchen! Quick! Quick!”
“Alright, to the kitchen.” The elevator started moving. By the time it stopped, I could already smell the aroma of bread loaves.
The food here in Silver Moon City was really bland. It was similar to the western food in my old world, consisting of mainly bread, salad, juices, hams, etc. Even though it seemed like western food, the variety was much less than what I"d been used to back then.
There weren"t any Chinese delicacies nor j.a.panese sas.h.i.+mi here. Of course, there wasn"t any Korean cuisine as well. No Mexican BBQ, Indian curry, French foie gras or Italian pasta either.
But luckily, they didn"t have the dark cuisine of the British either.
I ran into the kitchen, frightening the chef who was busy blending juices.
Startled, the orange fell from the hands of the chef who had been blending orange juice. Reacting quickly, the lady chef by his side stared at the orange at once. Then, the orange halted its fall to hover in the air slowly.
“Do not simply break into the kitchen.” The head chef walked up to me. He was a handsome uncle, with blonde hair and emerald eyes, just like those head chef with three Michelin Stars on TV.